Our Mission

Catalyze Innovation Across the Department

The mission of the Defense Innovation Board is to provide the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and other senior leaders across the Department with independent advice and recommendations on innovative means to address future challenges through the prism of three focus areas: people and culture, technology and capabilities, and practices and operations.

Creative Solutions

The Defense Innovation Board (DIB) harnesses the experiences and ideas of its members to provide independent advice to the Secretary of Defense and other senior leaders on catalyzing innovation in DoD. Recruited specifically for their expertise outside the Department, DIB members are uniquely positioned to propose creative solutions to the structural, technological, and workforce challenges DoD faces - and provide U.S. warfighters and civilians with the solutions they need to achieve the mission.

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Meet the Board

The DIB members are distinguished leaders with a track record of leading large, innovative organizations or conducting groundbreaking research in technical areas relevant to DoD. Dr. Eric Schmidt, former Executive Chairman of Alphabet, Inc., chairs the DIB, whose members include prominent business leaders, scholars, entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, and technologists.

Discovery

DIB Members believe in gathering data firsthand by traveling to military facilities, bases, and commands both within and outside of the U.S. to hear from warfighters at the tactical edge. The DIB aims to understand their challenges, learn what they’re doing to overcome them, and offer advice on how to achieve their mission. The DIB has visited more than fifty locations across the U.S., aboard ships afloat, and throughout nine other countries, and interviewing hundreds of service members from junior enlisted to four-star general and flag officers.

The Defense Innovation Board -- an independent federal committee advising the secretary of defense on issues of people and culture, technology and capabilities, and practices and operations -- holds its quarterly public meeting at National Defense University in Washington, March 21, 2019. Part 1 of 2.